Dave Cope And The Sass - Pied Piper

 

The Dave Cope And The Sass debut album is a magnificent thing. You can read the review here. Very 70s Pop Rock and incredibly melodic, its place in the IDHAS Best Of 2019 was assured and I so looked forward to the follow up. Having talked to Dave, I'd had the pleasure of hearing a couple of things planned for it that were every bit as good as anything on that self titled album.

That album is still in progress, but will now be the third as Pied Piper has been revealed to the world. If the debut album was very 70s, then Pied Piper is a decade earlier. It is essentially a solo folk album and acoustic and that's not the sort of thing that I would normally listen to. 

I lost a few musical friends for my outspoken views on lockdown music. I just got tired of hearing acoustic nonsense, even worse were the covers, the majority of which were Beatles related songs. My "You may be at home, but you can still plug the fucking guitar in" rants didn't appeal to all.

Then there was the subject matter, all about misery, self misery. Not about changing the world or general topics but all about how it made themselves feel, which did nothing to add to the musical canon or cheer people up. Songs felt like Therapy sessions.

I've since mellowed because at least some normality has returned. Pied Piper is Acoustic. It is a protest album, but its about society and politics. At times it sounds Dylan like. The wonderful The Party Of Lincoln even uses the line "How many roads must a man walk down?" but adds the line "before the police take their boots off his neck."

But nothing on the album is a diatribe, this is thoughtful stuff. The other noticeable thing is that the album shows how varied Acoustic material can be. You can cite Woody Guthrie influences, but then you hear a song as splendid as Docklands that is pure Glen Campbell.

Ways Of Love is more in late 60s / early 70s folk and Jerusalem Jerusalem is hauntingly beautiful. The Great Theatre Of The World has far more in common with the debut album, maybe even a little Jethro Tull and To A Dreamer is McCartney Pop. Sheikh San'an is positively psychedelic. 

Come One Of These Mornings is possibly Country Blues and is probably the song that would most have benefitted from a band version. I'm not sure that I would have fancied this album on its description, but I knew I wouldn't be disappointed by anything Sass. 

I'm glad I did, it changes some preconceptions that I had and shows that it isn't Acoustic albums that are the problem, it is the source material. The more you listen, the album becomes less about protest and more about great great songs.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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